


like bees to honey

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Lirry Fic Exchange, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-02
Updated: 2014-09-02
Packaged: 2018-02-15 21:49:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2244588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It’s not as if Liam’s unpopular. He has two best friends, even if Niall is one of the cool kids, and tends to flit around the school like a hummingbird on acid. He’s got Zayn to hang out with when he feels lonely, and Niall’s always about when he needs him, what more could Liam want?"</p>
<p>written for this prompt from the lirry fic exchange;</p>
<p>"College AU maybe where Liam and Harry meet and kinda become friends but Liam likes Harry a lot more than he should and he has a problem with Harry’s hands because they are so big and nice and his fingers are so long and really, Liam tries, but Harry keeps moving them around and touching his lips all the time and really, you can’t blame Liam (you know, i’ll do anything you say if you say it with your hands, thanks Taylor)"</p>
            </blockquote>





	like bees to honey

**Author's Note:**

  * For [youaresuchasunshine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/youaresuchasunshine/gifts).



> This is mostly pining, mostly because that is what I love and am good at, and i hope youaresuchasunsshine likes it!

It’s not as if Liam's unpopular, it’s just that he doesn't have many friends. He started at the local sixth form at the beginning of his A Levels, after his parents couldn’t afford his old schools fees anymore. He hadn't had many friends at his last school either, but he thought the local one might be an easier bet.

No luck there, most people there had been at the same schools since Year Six, and already had their little groups and cliques. The only upside was meeting Zayn and Niall (again, for the latter).

Zayn was studying Art, English, and French, and had immediately attached himself to Liam on the first day, due in part to Liam’s batman shirt, and also considering they were both the only kid from their respective schools.

Niall had been Liam’s next door neighbor when they were kids, and they had spent an embarrassing amount of time pretending to be cowboys, and popstars and the like. Ruth still maintains she caught Niall and Liam pretending to be the N*SYNC, but she’s never proved anything (if Liam’s lucky, she never will). He honestly can’t tell if Niall even takes courses at the school, he just seems to be there, but Liam is not getting good enough grades that he can critique anyone else’s study habits.

So, anyway, it’s not as if Liam’s unpopular. He has two best friends, even if Niall is one of the cool kids, and tends to flit around the school like a hummingbird on acid. He’s got Zayn to hang out with when he feels lonely, and Niall’s always about when he needs him, what more could Liam want?

  
  


Liam’s sitting in a lecture for Health and Social Care, bored out of his mind. He’s taking the course in planning for his planned career as a music teacher, but he hadn’t thought of all the boring hours he’d spent in lectures he couldn’t care less about.

The teacher, Mr. Addison drones on an on, and really, Liam feels bad, it’s not his fault his lesson is the most boring thing since watching paint dry, it’s just Liam’s hands are itching for his guitar. He’d composed something decent, and was really excited to try and work on it more.

Liam straightens his back, takes a sip of water, and promises himself to pay more attention to the lecture.

This is, of course, when someone starts kicking the back of his chair. Liam sighs, but doesn’t bother turning around. He knows exactly who it is. And he also knows he’s not going to stop until he gets what he wants.

Liam shoves his backpack off the chair next to him, and pulls it out with a screech. Louis immediately darts down from behind and sits next to Liam. It's possible Louis might be part monkey.

Louis is a drama student, but he thinks he wants to be a teacher, and, as such, is stuck in the same boring class as Liam. Normally Louis spends time with some of the more popular people Niall hangs around with, but in Health and Social, he seems to have made it his goal to badger Liam into friendship.

 

“So, Liam, Leem. Leemo. The Big Leem.”

“What is it, Lewis.” Liam says, purposefully mispronouncing Louis’ name just to see him scowl.

“I didn't see you at Niall’s party the other day. He kept talking about how it was finally going to be the party you showed up to. Unless you’re secretly the Invisible Man, that makes 6 parties you’ve bailed on”

Liam sighs. It’s not that he doesn't want to go to parties, except... that’s exactly it. Parties are never much fun for Liam, mostly he only shows up when Niall and/or Zayn need someone to cart them home when they're drunk off their arses. He still can’t drink much because of the kidney thing, and being the only sober guy in a room full of drunken teenagers isn't Liam’s idea of a good time.

 

“I had essays to write.” Liam says. “And so do you. You can’t just coast through class doing the least possible amount of work”

Louis actually coos at him then, before pinching Liam’s cheeks.

“Babe, really” Louis grins, as condescending as he’s always been. He stands up, and darts out of the lecture hall. The lessons not even half over.

 

Mr. Addison drones on, apparently unaware Louis was even there. Liam couldn't do that in a million years.

  
  


Liam was lying earlier when he said he only had two friends. He guesses Louis counts as a friend, and with Louis, comes Harry. That makes four, which seems to be an acceptable amount of friends. Zayn had this whole thing about gradually trying to make more friends, but Liam knows that’s going fine. Zayn is pretty, and arty, and he gets along pretty well with most people. Liam is just kind of awkward. Which is why he’s not sure if Harry even counts as a friend.

Harry and Liam have met approximately 10 times while hanging out with Louis, but see each other a lot in the hallways, and in classes, and just around, like when Liam’s picking Niall up from parties. They always smile and wave at each other but Liam’s still not sure if their friends.

The reason he’s not sure if they're friends, is because every time they talk, Liam makes a fool of himself. He stutters, he doesn't think of the right thing to say, he either laughs too much at Harry’s awful jokes, or not enough. Niall and Zayn always tease him about his huge crush, (as if they haven’t been dancing around each other for a whole year), but that’s not why Liam freezes up whenever he talks to Harry.

 

It’s Harry’s hands. They're big and gorgeous, with long fingers, and he gestures wildly when he talks. Liam swears, Harry spends more times touching his lips than he does holding a pen. And Liam can never stop staring. He stops talking in the middle of the sentence, he’s tripped over nothing once while Harry was telling a particularly enthusiastic story.

So Liam and Harry aren't even really friends, and Liam already wants to be more than friends. He wouldn't know what to do if they were closer. So, he turns down Louis’ party invitations, and sticks to just grinning at Harry when he sees him around.

 

Niall has dragged Liam to a party. He’s done it by promising Liam he won’t get too plastered, and also by telling him that if he didn't go, Niall would give Ruth blackmail material to last a lifetime, not in the least bit caring that the blackmail material would count against him too.

So Liam’s at a party, coke in hand, and he’s leaning against the wall texting. It’s not a bad party, Niall seems to be having fun, alternatively chatting with Zayn in the corner Zayn’s found for himself. Zayn has gathered a large crowd of admirers, simply by quietly playing with a cat belonging to whoever’s hosting the party. There's a lot of cooing. Liam’s used to it at this point, Zayn’s too pretty not to get any attention. It’s just a fact of life.

 

“Hey” While Liam's zoned off, Harry's appeared next to him. He’s holding a can of something, and grinning at Liam. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Well, you know me” Liam says “Life of the party right here”

Harry laughs at that, and Liam swears he could probably die happy.

They talk for ages, about Harry’s band and whether they think it’ll come to anything, about the songs Liam writes that Harry says he’d love to hear, about anything and everything. Liam is laughing, and he’s not stammering, or stopping mid sentence, even while harry plays with his long long fingers, occasionally tugging on his own curls.

Liam and Harry duck their heads closer together as the room gets more and more crowded, and Liam is feeling brave and silly, and he’s almost convinced himself to just lean forward that little bit more, and kiss Harry. It wouldn’t be hard. Liam’s kissed people before.

 

“Liam!” Niall is shouting from somewhere across the room.

“Sorry, better go find out what he wants.” Liam says, moving away from Harry.

“No worries, come back though, alright?”

“Course!  

 

Liam makes his way through the crowds, the music steadily increasing in volume. Harry and Liam’s corner must've been the farthest from the speakers, either that or Liam was so wrapped up in their conversations that he hadn't even noticed the music.

Liam finds Niall with Zayn leaning over his shoulder, hair mussed, and a bloody nose stark on his face. Liam’s good mood dissipates almost instantly.

“What happened?” He asks, walking over to Zayn and checking if he’s got any other bruises. He seems mostly alright, apart from the nose, which is still bleeding sluggishly. Niall looks grim.

“Some drunk called me a fag, and hero here decided to defend my honor. Too bad no one told him he punches like a drunken jellyfish. I need your help getting him home. He can stay at yours, right? I haven’t got any room, and his parents won't want to see him like this” Niall says, in a matter of seconds. He’s clearly anxious, words slipping out as fast as he thinks them.

“Of course he can stay at mine. I’ll take him home and bandage him up, but you should probably go home too.”

“Thanks. Can always rely on you to take care of me, eh, Liam?” Niall says, shoving Zayn onto Liam. Zayn says something that sounds like ‘I love you bro’ into Liam’s neck, but it’s muffled, and Liam’s suddenly too tired to make Zayn repeat it.

 

The bus ride home feels like years. When they finally make it home to Liam’s, they manage to make it indoors without waking Liam’s parents. Zayn’s less drunk than he was at the party, and he quietly helps Liam wipe the blood off his face, and grins up at him toothily.

It’s only when Liam’s finally drifting off to sleep that he realizes he forgot to say goodbye to Harry.

 

In the morning, Liam feels stupid for even considering kissing Harry. While no one is sure about Harry’s sexuality, Liam thinks that even if Harry wouldn’t mind dating a bloke, there’s no way he’d be interested in Liam.

He puts the night firmly in the ‘Do Not Think’ box, disregards it, and goes on with his day. He jogs, does as much of his homework as he can bear to, and reads one of the latest Guardians of the Galaxy issues with Zayn. . He and Harry don’t run in the same circles usually, and Liam’s pretty sure it’ll go right back that soon.

  
  


Monday morning, and Liam is sleep deprived after a late night trying to finish a composition for music. He had managed to finish just in time and managed to get at least a few hours of sleep. Zayn is literally asleep in the hallway. He’s sitting on the floor leaning against his locker and snoring softly as students step over his legs.

Liam’s exhausted but he has to at least go to music and hand in his composition. He’s got two hours of Health and Social Care before he can get to Music, and he’s really not in the mood for Louis teasing him for 2 hours, or as long as Louis can bother to show up for.

He walks up to Zayn and kicks his leg gently. Zarn mumbles and looks up at Liam.

“You’ve got to get to English, haven’t you? Should probably get up, it’s almost eight thirty.” Liam says, holding his hand down to pull Zayn up.

Zayn nods sleepily, before smirking and grabbing Liam’s hand and pulling down, hard. Liam falls, giggling, his legs tangling into Zayn’s.

 

“Hey, Liam, I was wondering if, uh, maybe you wanted to- oh, sorry, I guess im interrupting? Sorry!” Harry starts, stops and run’s off before Liam can even say hi.

Zayn lightly punches him in the arm.

“Niall’s right, you do punch like a jellyfish”

“You should've talked to him. He likes you.”

“Nah, don’t think I’m his type. He likes all those... indie people, y’know” Liam shakes his head, looking down at his hands.

“Idiot. Trust me, he likes you.” Zayn says, fondly. They get up, head off to class, but not without Zayn telling Liam to talk to Harry at least five times.

  
  


Health and Social is quiet, in that Louis doesn't talk to him for the first hour, just kicks his chair, and continues kicking even when Liam moves his bag to leave room for Louis to sit next to him.

After half an hour of Louis kicking his chair, and Liam’s notes coming out jolted and messy, Liam finally turns around to glare at Louis.

“What?” He hisses, trying to keep quiet while Mr. Addison keeps talking.

Louis looks annoyed, but he get’s up, sitting next to Liam with his legs splayed out. Even taking up as much space as he can, Louis is compact, and doesn’t take up much space.

 

“Why didn’t you tell me you were dating Zayn? I thought you were just friends. You really hurt Harry y’know.”

“I’m not dating Zayn.” Liam says, confused at the direction of the conversation. “Also if you mean how I didn’t say goodnight to Harry the other night, I didn’t mean to rush off but I had to take Zayn home.”

“Wait- so you weren’t dating Zayn, then you were dating Zayn, and now you aren’t dating Zayn? You move fast Payne. And no, I didn’t mean the party. I meant Harry trying to ask you out only to find you all snuggled up with Zayn!” Louis says, voice getting louder and louder, until he shouts the last part. Even the teacher, normally content to drone on in front of the class, not caring if anyone was actually paying attention.

“Sorry” Louis says, smiling at the teacher, who nods and tells him not to do it again, reminding Louis that he’s not five, and he doesn't really want to talk about the importance of indoor voices.

 

“What d’you mean about Harry asking me out?” Liam asks, about five minutes after Mr. Addison goes back to teaching. Louis slams his head on the desk.

“Oh my god. Babe. Harry has a massive crush on you. I can’t believe you didn’t know. He’s so obvious that you can probably see it from space.”

Liam’s feels like hitting himself. He had been right at the party, and he had been so close to kissing Harry.

“You okay, babe?” Louis’ voice brings Liam out of his head.

“Yeah, I’m” He pauses. “I’m great actually.” He stands, and dashes out of the room.

 

Mr. Addison doesn't even notice.

  
  


Liam finds Harry sitting in the library looking miserable. He sits next to him, and starts to speak.

 

“Zayn’s not my boyfriend” Harry coughs, shocked, then puts his fingers over his lips, before whispering a response.

“I never said he was.”

“No. Also I was flirting with you at the party. I kinda thought you were gonna kiss me.” Harry visibly blushes.

“I was.”

“How bout now?”

Harry kisses Liam.

Liam thinks Harry counts as a bit more than a friend.

 

 


End file.
